Will insoles help with knee pain? (Read 178 times)

mark bro

posted: 6/29/2013 at 10:37 AMmodified: 6/30/2013 at 4:03 AM

I get a annoying knee pain in the tendon thing and i was wondering what causes this? is it because its damaged or is it because running technique is wrong? also will insoles help to ease the pain a bit and strengthen the knee so this stops even without the insoles? any ideas? any one got any suggestions for insoles <__ pair of insoles i found so far

thank you

carlos49er

posted: 6/29/2013 at 7:33 PM

My Pilates instructor says that most problems below the waist are a result of a weak core. You're body ends up overcompensating to make up for it and results in injury. Its a pretty generic statement, some situations are a result of medical condition. Try a core strengthening program and see if that helps your knee.

RA user JRMichler also said this "Another cause of knee problems is weak hip flexor muscles. It has something to do with certain weak muscles causing your knee to wobble sideways.

The remedy is cross training or specific exercises to strengthen the weak muscles. Good cross training might be tennis or soccer, where you work your hip flexors."

rhammett

posted: 6/29/2013 at 9:25 PM

Super Feet insoles are great for me and have helped me lessen the 'roll' in my stride.

As far as knee pain, my coach has one question that generally helps- "Did you hear a pop or hit your knee on something?" If the answer is no, then it is always an alignment issue and muscles are compensating/pulling which causes strain on your knee. The best solution for me is a deep tissue massage to break up knots, scar tissue, etc. in the legs and get things back fresh. These massages can be painful during the session and generally cost me $85/hour, but I feel better on my runs during the following weeks.

Also, make sure you're running in the right shoes and haven't passed the useful life on your current pair.

That's my non-medical opinion. Good luck with the pain and back at it!

I'm no expert, but I believe most pain from running or any exercise is a result of stressing your body more than you body can handle. Just because you can run hard doesn't mean your body is ready. You may feel you're not running hard but you body thinks so since you are feeling pain. Slow down or shorten your runs. It takes time to build strength.

I was in pain the first year of consistent running. I was too stubborn to listen to any advice. As a result, I had pain during most of my runs and eventually got injuried. After several years of consistent running, I am pain free. I will push myself at time and start to feel aches. At that point, I ease back a little and gradually increase so my body adapts.

ivyfun

posted: 6/30/2013 at 5:52 PM

Hi,

Have you talked about it with fitness, sport trainer? If you like you can ask my trainer Mark http://teachtorun.com/

There are many different causes for knee pain. The only one that matters is the one that is causing your knee pain. Like somebody said, one of the common causes is some kind of imbalance. Your kneecap is pulled in various directions by many different chains of muscles/tendons. Very often, the cure is to strengthen whichever muscle is too weak. When the kneecap isn't being pulled out of whack, your knee will be much happier. For me, strengthening my medial (inner) quads by doing leg extensions totally eliminated my (once debilitating) knee pain.

My opinion : insoles/orthotics may be the best solution in some cases, but if you can adress the problem by correcting a strength imbalance, that is much, much better. So just keep in mind that in some cases, a little bit of strength training can work miracles.

Can you be more specific about 'the tendon thing' Is it behind the knee, on the outside the knee, just above the knee? Where? It makes a difference in where the pain is as to what you do about it.

To paraphrase an old poster: Today is the first day of the rest of your training. It doesn’t matter where you started or how far you’ve come. Today is the day. Your training didn’t start 6 weeks ago. Your training started the last time you hit the road. John “the Penguin” Bingham Life is not tried, it is merely survived if you're standing outside the fire

tridoshawellness

posted: 8/19/2013 at 1:11 AMmodified: 8/19/2013 at 1:11 AM

What part of the knee hurts exactly? As the other comments suggest it's usually an imbalance between different muscles groups. With my patients I often emphasize core stabilization and have to have good hip/gluteal strength. Weak hip muscles will result in poor pelvic stability and often lead to more stress on your knees.

I get a annoying knee pain in the tendon thing and i was wondering what causes this? is it because its damaged or is it because running technique is wrong? also will insoles help to ease the pain a bit and strengthen the knee so this stops even without the insoles? any ideas? any one got any suggestions for insoles <__ pair of insoles i found so far

thank you

An insole could probably help the pain via changing your running form.

However, that does not solve the actual problem itself, which is likely a muscle weakness/imbalance or an issue with your running form.

I had knee pain a season or two ago. I tried taping the knee (or rather a PT friend did it for me) and that worked. But I wanted a fix, not a bandaid (or really big kinesio bandaid, lol). Turned out it was a tight IT band. Had that worked out, all is fine with the knee :-)

HTFU? Why not!

Coach: Empire Tri Club

Speed Coach: Brooklyn Tri ClubUSATF Coach

djs

posted: 8/19/2013 at 5:01 PM

Hi mark bro

My experience with knee pain, not sure if its the same issue as yours of course, hope it helps.

After increasing my mileage a few years back, including the length of my longer runs, I suffered knee soreness. The tendon below the left kneecap was sore. I think it was patella tendonitis.

First off I suspected the increase in workload. Looking back at my log I noticed that leading up to and through the time I was having the issue, I had changed the model of shoe I was using. I had gone from Asics1100 series to Asics 2100 series. In the end this seems to have been the cause of my problem

To cure the issue I needed to rest. I rested a frustrating 3 to 4 months, resorted to walking and little to no running.

After resting the knee, I went to my LRS and had a gait analysis. The recommendation was a Mizuno Wave Inspire. Which looks to be pretty close to the old Asics 1100 series. So this leads me to believe I had inadvertently moved to a shoe too stable/restrictive for my gait. Anyway I went with the Mizuno, probably could have just gone back to the Asics 1100 though. By the way, I ALWAYS replaced my shoes at what I thought was a reasonable interval maybe 800km so I can't blame worn out shoes.

Returning to running from that layoff, I gradually increased my weekly running from about 30km a week to 60 to 70km week, maxed out at about 83km, with my longest run getting up to 28k, whereas 16k was the longest previously. The knee pain has not recurred! Yay!!

So long story short, my 2 cents, if you haven't already, go to your LRS, (or somewhere that you could get a gait analysis done), take your current shoes with you so they can check the wear, get a gait analysis and an opinion from the expert there.

We are all different, but for me it looks like the wrong shoes knocked me out for ages, and the right shoes are keeping me healthy. Sorry no experience with insoles :-)

Good luck I hope you get over the knee pain quickly whatever the solution!

I get a annoying knee pain in the tendon thing and i was wondering what causes this? is it because its damaged or is it because running technique is wrong? also will insoles help to ease the pain a bit and strengthen the knee so this stops even without the insoles? any ideas? any one got any suggestions for insoles <__ pair of insoles i found so far

thank you

Annoying like feeling that there is some tendon moving inside? If the pain is not stinging it is most probably the dreaded IT band syndrome.

Insoles will not help, core stabilization and cross training will.

Insoles are not meant to strengthen anything and I don't see how they could help with knee issues, at least not with ITBS.

The very first thing you want to do is paying your doctor a visit in order to exclude other things. If the diagnose is ITBS your doctor should be able to gauge the severity. Note that the severity is not related to the amount of pain that you feel and that once you know what it is and what you can expect a good part of the pain suddenly disappears.

Most of us on this site have gone through ITBS, in my case it's the only injury I have ever had besides a broken toe, broken by hitting a root, mind you, never got something as exotic as "stress fractures".

The best cure (once you have got rid of the eventual acute pain) is core training:

Bridges, planks, side planks and specially the side raise: This one --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XxYq-ZkUQw (please concentrate on the exercise, the girl is taken!!!) and the ever awesome lunges (use body-weight please).

This will both strengthen your knees and your core. Try also to learn as much good form as you can as this is key for running injury free.